Forest Fire

On July 25? we had a huge lightening storm which started numerous fires in S. Utah.  Unbeknownst to us one of the fires was just over the mountain from our small town.  I have bad asthma and so am always on the look out for forest fires because that means I need to leave the area so that it doesn’t do damage to my lungs. 

I wasn’t feeling very good for a few weeks but didn’t know exactly why when I happened to look out one of our windows and saw a fire at the top of one of our local mountains.  I got online and discovered that it had been burning for weeks. 

On Aug. 20th my nephew, Stefan, and I set out for my sisters house.  I knew that since this fire had been set by lightening and it had been let to burn that they were just going to let it burn itself out unless it got close to buildings.  Unfortunately as Stefan and I were driving we saw another fire off in the distance.  This fire was visible for hours and it was a lot bigger than the one we had just fled from.  We had planned on stopping for the night but the town where we wanted to stop was engulfed in smoke.  There aren’t many towns in the Nevada desert.  So we just drove straight through. 

I was away from home for about five weeks.  The fire near our town came down the side of the mountain.  The Fire Fighters cleared a fire break but our town eventually had to evacuate and several buildings were burned. 

Some families had the fire stop just yards away from their homes.  It was frustrating knowing that my community was going through that while I was sitting safe miles away.  I was worried about my family but they were just outside the evacuation boundary but were on a 15-min. evacuation standby.  My mom and husband had to have a pass to be able to get into our community. 

Eventually the fire was put out and the air cleared.  By that time I had been to the Doctor a few times because of lung damage. 

They put me on antibiotics and steroids.  My voice was gone and when I coughed it was croupy or a whistle.  Eventually I was able to come home but the damage to my lungs had been done.  I’m still not feeling good but after four months of antibiotics and steroids my bronchial tubes are starting to loosen up.  Last weekend my husband and I took a ride to the fire area to see up close what had been burned.

It is amazing to me how brave and how hard the Fire Fighters work.  This year there have been 412 fires started by humans which burned 2289 acres.  721 fires started by lightening, burning 107784 acres.  107 prescribed  (fires started by the Fire Dept. to burn off old brush) fires, burning 19687 acres.  We are so grateful to the Fire Fighters who put their lives on the line to keep the rest of us safe. 

My son, Sean, has trained to become a Fire Fighter and can’t wait for the day when he can make a living protecting others.  As a mother it is scary to think of him working in such a dangerous career but he is doing it because he loves people and want to protect them.  Thank you to all of those who serve in their communities to help, serve and protect.

Food Goal and Challenge

Bob and I have decided to make some changes in our household.  We’ve decided to start cooking more from our food storage.  For those of you who  don’t know what food storage is or why anyone would have it, go Food Storage Made Easy or Provident Living. 

I’ve been stressing a bit about whether our food storage is complete and Bob thinks it’s fine as is.  So…to really find out we (meaning I) are going to start organizing cooking from what we have and to fill in the gaps with what we need.  As I was doing some research I found several excellent resources that I am really excited about. 

With all of the crazy natural disasters and job losses we never know when we may need to rely on what is in our pantry.  My sister’s well pump dies a few months ago, on a weekend, and we had no water for several days!  In August of this year our town had to evacuate because of forest fire.  We were right on the border of the evacuation boundary and therefore didn’t have to but we had to be ready for a 15-min. warning to go.

Now not all of us think of these things until they happen to us.  My family experienced a hurricane in Connecticut back in the mid 80’s.  Hurricane Gloria made a last minute change in course and came straight through our area.  We were without power for three days but most of the area was without for nine days!  It was quite something, especially since we had just moved there from the west and had no idea what to do in case of hurricane (I was so grateful for our camp stove and New England clothes line).  Going to the grocery store and seeing shelves empty was quite a scary experience.  Our son’s were four, six and Ryan turned seven the day before we were hit.  We quickly taped windows and cupboards and fled to the cellar with our hamster, batter-operated radio, emergency food, water and Fruit Roll Ups.  Our biggest worry was flooding and keeping the kids calm and happy and what we would do if we ran out of Fruit Roll Ups!  We’ve also been through several earthquakes and other disasters. 

I’ve included buttons to the aforementioned resources on the side of this blog.  There are many more out there but so far I love these the best because they are so easy to follow.  They include lists to help you figure out what and how much you should store and how to store it.  They teach you to cook by recipes and videos!  These sites also help you cook what you have in your pantry and how to shop smart.  I love all of the tips and tricks.  The information has come a long way from the 70’s when my grandparents stored buckets of wheat, sugar and TVP in our closets (my dresses always hung sideways because of the double stacked white buckets).  My sister and I ate all of the Bacon TVP as sandwiches so we learned at an early age to use our food storage.  I’m just not sure that my grandparents knew about the dwindling supply.

Starting this week I am going to make a food storage meal each week and report here each Wednesday with pictures and reviews.  Since I love creativity and a challenge this seemed like a great format to keep me accountable and motivated.  This is going to be fun.  If you have any great recipes or sources please comment with a link and I’ll try them also.

Update

I had another appointment with the Pulmonologist and it seems that the current antibiotic is helping a little but the infection seems to be hanging on.  He extended it for another week.  I’ve been on four antibiotics in the last three months and am a bit worried although I want the infection gone.  My voice is not as raspy and my cough isn’t as tight.  I’m still very shaky and have a hard time getting a deep breath. 

If I didn’t have my laptop and the internet I would be going bonkers.  I can’t stand just laying around and watching TV.  At least now I can work on some Internet classes and Digital Scrapbooks.

Today’s Favorites:

Brussels Sprouts.  I know this sounds weird but lately I’ve craved them and steam a bowl of them almost every day.  They must have something in them that my body needs. 

A few facts from Wikipedia:  Brussels sprouts are among the same family that includes cabbage, collard greens, broccoli, kale, and kohlrabi: they are cruciferous. They contain good amounts of vitamin A, vitamin C, folic acid and dietary fibre. Moreover, they are believed to protect against colon cancer, due to their containing sinigrin^{[citation needed]}. Although they contain compounds such as goitrin that can act as goitrogens and interfere with thyroid hormone production, realistic amounts in the diet do not seem to have any effect on the function of the thyroid gland in humans

Hospital Beds & Update

This is the fourth hospital room that I have slept in in the past two weeks. Wow, the time seems to go so slow yet whiz by.

My first hospital room was in Labor & Deliver with Christy in Salt Lake City. The recliner transformed out into a bed/torture chamber. Christy was up a lot that night so fortunately I didn't have to lay on the bed very much.

The second hospital room was out on the general floor with Christy. This bed was a fold-up cot that bowed in the middle. Ryan can attest to how uncomfortable that bed was. Actually it worked so much better than the first bed that I got more sleep on it. The biggest problem was trying to get out of it, it was low to the ground and creaked a lot.

The third hospital room was with my Mother here at home. The hospital was newer and they had a love seat that folded out and was actually quite a lot better than the other rooms. It was a bit hard but I was so tired that I pretty much passed out.

The fourth hospital room was in St. George with Mom and the new hospital is beautiful! They had a love seat that flipped up a twin cushion. The room was too warm and I was so tired that I had a hard time sleeping. I also didn't know what was going on with the twins and so I couldn't sleep until early morning.

Enough with the whining! The beds may not be comfortable but the Doctors and Nurses took such good care of my family that I really shouldn't complain about my accomidations.

Mom and Jerri Ann both came home today. Mom has to take it easy for the weekend but can go back to work on Monday. I'm not sure how long Jerri has to rest from her heart attack but she is home now and you can call her! Both are feeling a lot better. I am so grateful that they are both healthy and will recover completely.

I need to catch up on some sleep but again I can't sleep not knowing how the twins are. After next week when Mom gets back to work and I get a Dr. appointment and root canal out of the way I will be ready to maybe get back to normal. We still have a long haul until the twins come home and Christy will really need help with four kids, ages four and under. Such is life....

Four Hearts

...OK so now for some more drama. This morning I remembered that the new Star Trek movie (I think) comes out next week and Bob and I haven't been able to spend much time together. I have to go home for two Dr. appointments so I called to make a date with my husband and he told me that he was on his way to the hospital where my Mom, Norma, had been rushed to the hospital from work. What!

I called Mom's work and they said that when she walked in the door this morning she was having chest pains and was nauceous so they called 911, much to my mother's dismay. I was glad that they had taken charge and taken such good care of my mother.

Bob then called and said that Mom's EKG was going crazy so they were treating it as a heart attack. I called my sister who lives on the East coast and told her that I had some scarey news and filled her in. Then....my sister says, "Actually I have some scary news of my own. I came into the hospital this morning with chest pains and they are admitting me to the ICU."

WHAT!

I started looking for Candid Cameras or thought that I had been punked (except I'm not that famous) but this just wasn't funny, especially since the twins may have to have heart surgery today!

I'm babysitting my two granddaughters while their parents deal with school and premie twins. I don't remember scheduling in anything else this big, this week. What do I do?

Bob said that he would stay with Mom (thank heavens that he had the day off) and keep me informed. We could make decisions based on more information. I stayed next to the phone waiting for calls from the East coast and home.

I felt bad because Ryan and Christy were dealing with so much, I couldn't just leave! Of course Ryan and Christy said to do what I needed to do and they had other friends who could fill in. I knew this was true but I honestly didn't know whether to book a flight or start driving home and I really didn't want to leave the girls.

How could my Mom and Sister both have heart attacks on the same morning?